Race and Nation in the Twentieth Century - Essay Example

Rooseveltian Nation Gary Gerstle believes that Theodore Roosevelent stand out as the major decisive historical figure during the period of early 20thcentury in the United States of America together with some of its later development. As a Rooseveltian Nation, the president got capable, by application of the political credentials and the various political platforms to effectively provide responses of this Rooseveltian Nation, America. Rooseveltian legacy gave rise to the sense of transformative nationalism which provided the room for all the American citizens to totally embrace their American identity through such processes of relinquishing their individual gains (Gerstle, 2001).

Civic NationalismCivic nationalism can be said to bet that particular type of nationalism that define a country as a room where individuals associate with same levels of political rights that are evenly distributed to each other (Gerstle, 2001). In this association, the members are assured to allegiance to the same political methodologies and guidelines. This particular type of nationalism has the underlining principle that the nation is not guided by individuals with same ethnic ancestry, rather a political entity without the core of ethnicity.

Civic nationalism is therefore the form of nationalism whereby the government draws legitimacy of political grounds from its citizen’s active participation, hence representing the will of its population.Racial NationalismRacial Nationalism refers to global approach and view, which makes a combination of the love and passion of an individual’s race together with the love and passion an individual nation. By combining the two elements of love and passion for both one’s race and nation, this particular view advocates for a self-determination perspective for all the world races.

In the American context, this view became very practical when it comes to matters pertaining to the uniqueness characteristics of each race and their preservation as well. In America, this view emerged advantageous by eliminating the opportunities for one group to exploit the other (Gerstle, 2001).Soft MulticulturalismSoft Multiculturalism refers to a condition that had already existed before in the United States and Europe, among other nations, due to the real availability of a number of cultural and religious associations.

They also include other individuals who have migrated into these countries. In the United States of America, Soft Multiculturalism got related to the development some futures that were close distant. Those individuals initiating these developments must prepare themselves towards facing the challenges resulting from these initiatives. In the USA, they considered it as something that was still undergoing establishment rather than something that had already got established in the society (Gerstle, 2001).

Hard MulticulturalismHard Multiculturalism is a type of multiculturalism that find it useful for the government to take good control of cultural diversity and its aspects. It recognizes the need by the state to come up with a number of institutions and policies with the prime objective of doing away with racism and other forms of discrimination in the society (Gerstle, 2001). In the United States of America, this particular hard form of multiculturalism, with time, turned into an obsessive determination for the purposes of boosting diversity.

ReferencesGerstle, G. (2001). American crucible. Princeton: Princeton University Press.